Fence post



ly 1934- w. D. WILLIAMS El AL 1,967,460

FENCE POST Filed May 29; 1926 [ll/m5.- maxim/l7 WLZZLam,

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W 5.. wmzm Patented July 24, 1934 FENCE POST William D. Williams and Frank Clemba, Duluth, Minn.

Application May 29, 1926, Serial No. 112,445

4Claims.

This invention relates to a new and improved fence post and more particularly to a post formed from a uniform rolled metal section.

Posts of this character are normally driven into the ground which results in a considerable saving in labor cost in building the fences. The cost of the posts is based upon their weight, and it is consequently essential to provide the maximum post strength with a minimum of weight. It

is most essential to provide strength in the plane perpendicular to the fence to be supported, since the majority of stresses will occur in this direction, or approximately so. portant to provide suflicient strength along the line of the fence so as. to render the post substan-- tially rigid under normal conditions. These posts carry wire fencing and'it is desirable to provide means for maintaining the fencing in the proper relation to the fence post with the use of simple attaching clips or wire ties'. It is important that the fencing be not positively clamped to the posts, otherwise when stress was applied to one panel of fence the entire strain would have to be taken up by the adjacent'fence post, By attaching the fencing in such manner as to permit a certain amount of slip of the fence wire horizontally across the post, the stress is transmitted from post to post and is taken up by a plurality of It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved fence post of a simple construction adapted for commercial production by standard rolling methods.

It is an additional object to provide a post of this character which provides adequate strength both perpendicular to and along the line of a supported fence, and which has a relativelysmall cross sectional area.

It is a further object to provide a fence post.

having a minimum of contact with the supported wires or fencing, and engaging such wires or fencing at relatively widely spaced points.

It is also an object to provide a metal fence post having a section with a flat surface adapted to receive an attached spade.

Other and further objects will appear as the description proceeds.

We have illustrated a preferred embodiment of our invention in the accompanying drawing, in which I Figure 1 is a fragmentary face view of the post; Figure 2 is a view of Figure 1 as seen from. the right;

Figure 3 is an end view of the post.

5 The post as best seen in Figure 3 comprises It however, im-- 0f the wire.

9. rolled metal section having a flat base 11 with angularly extending ,wing portions 12 upon either side of the base. The outer edges of the wing sections are down turned at 13 to form portions substantially parallel to the base portion 11. The Q outer edges of the portions 13 form flanges extending in aplane substantially perpendicular to the portions 13, and are provided with the series of spaced notches 15.' These notches are similarly spaced upon the opposite flanges 14 so, that a wire extending transversely of the post may be carried in the aligned notches. These notches do not extend the full depth of the flanges 14 but the bases 16 of the notches are spaced from the portions 13, as best shown in Figure 2.

The spade 17 shown in Figures 1 to 3, is secured to the flat outer face of the base 11 by means of the rivets 18. This spade 17 may be pointed upon its lower end to aid in penetrating the ground and may have angularly displaced portions 19 to increase its holding power.

The notches ,15 located upon the widely spaced flanges 14 afford contact for the wire at relatively widely spaced points; The flanges 14 are comparatively narrow so that there is a minimum of wire contact. While the notches effectively retain the wire against displacement vertically of the post, they permit longitudinal movement This insures an equalization of stresses throughout the fence. The base 11 is 85 provided with squared outer shoulders and affords a wide seat for theattachment of the. spade, thus insuring a rigid connection between the two elements. The section shown affords consider able strength in all directions and requires a no relatively small amount of metal. a

.It is to be understood that we do not wish to be limited by the exact embodiment of the device shown, which is merely by way of illustration and not limitation, as various and other 'forms 9 of the device will of course be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing mm the' spirit of theinvention or the scope of the claims.

We claim:

1. A metal fence post comprising a continuous n section having a flat base, angularly extending wing portions, edge flanges offset laterally from the outer edges of the wing portions and extending substantially at right angles to the base, and notches in said flanges. I

2. A metal fence post comprising a continuous section having a flat base, angularly extending wing portions, narrow edge flanges oifset laterally from the outer edges of the wing portions and extending substantially at right angles to no the base, and wire seating notches in the flanges said notches being of less depth than the flanges to provide narrow wire seats spacing the wire from the remainder of the post.

3. A metal fence post comprising a continuous section having a flat base, divergent wing portions, outer portions of said wing portions extending substantially parallel to the base, and flanges on the edges or the wing portions extending substantially at right angles to the base.

4. A rolled metal fence post comprising a con- WILLIAM D. WILLIAMS. FRANK CZEMIBA. 

